People from Small Towns should be forced to Travel

First off, I live in a kinda small town. I live in a place where it is not uncommon to have 5th generation families still live by each other.
To say they think they own the place is an understatement.

I also think that there has been some inbreeding and also some severe lack of social skills due to the small town mentality.

The problem arises when a small town is no longer a small town and GASP “outsiders” move in. That is when all hell breaks loose.
A common theme, and I’ve seen this in so many places that I’ve lived moving as a military brat, and moving with my husbands job, is that the small town folks are very change adverse even if it benefits them. Then when the change is complete, they love it and won’t shut up about it.
It’s just the weirdest thing for me to witness. I feel if they have traveled and see how some of the good change works they would be more accepting to it.

DISCLAIMER, I’m generalizing, so stay with me. It’s as if they don’t even know what is good or bad.
Are they less educated? In a way yes. They are less educated in a worldly way. Many many many many small town folks have never traveled more than 30 miles outside their hometowns. Some of them are terrified of cities thinking they will die the minute they step foot. Visiting another country, that would probably make their heads explode.

I think this is so unfortunate. I don’t know if they’re a greater teacher than travel. Even at my age the lessons I learn from travel are so profound.

I’m also not silly to think that all change is good. Nobody was homelessness and crime and overdevelopment. Is there a middle ground, absolutely. Unfortunately the tunnel vision doesn’t allow some people to even take a chance.
The smaller the town the worse, right now I’m seeing a lot of small areas in my state suffer greatly from the drug epidemic. Depression, loss of hope is to blame.. Maybe if people could see there are other possibilities out there they could shift their beliefs…..

I hear you but it also reflects on our will to contact isolated tribes only to spread the good word of capitalism and technology. I believe small towns are suspensions within time that stay back from the front line of progress until ideas and ways of being are proven "safe" for all.

They, no doubt, have their place in the continuum of things. However frustrating, culty and protectionist the locals tend to be. It actually sounds like a business opportunity. What would you like to see there that isn't there already?

I find just the opposite with our small town.

People are friendlier, and take care of each other. We have multigenerational families, mostly farmers.
Town is corrupt as hell,( police, courthouse) but out in the country, we know that, and mostly avoid them when possible.
We even have new neighbors, from a big city, trying to live like we do, not change us.
I love everything about our small neighborhood and wouldn't change anything.

I've traveled. Lived in cities.
No thank you.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I don't think you're giving us small town, white trash enough credit.

Maybe some of us grew up in liberal utopias where needles and human feces abound the streets. Maybe some of us have traveled all around the world, and appreciate the peaceful serenity of not having to hear about some woke cause every two minutes of the day.

I'm of the mind, do whatever you want in the privacy of your own home. I don't care. If you step outside your home, act like you actually respect the person next to you.

That's pretty much my whole philosophy.

So if you move to my small town, I don't care who you are, your political background, your sexual proclivities, your gender, etc... As long as you don't make it an issue, I won't.


And I bet you there's a whole lot more of "me" out there than you give us small-towners credit for.

You want to make changes? That's what a town hall is for. And you get outvoted, that's how democracy works.

a reply to: JAGStorm

People from small towns and villages are being forced to travel Jagstorm we call them immigrants and they are pouring over the borders and arriving on boats this side of the pond and it is totally messing things up for the locals with housing and school places and health care .

I have come across 3 older adults in my life who were never out of the county they were born in which blew my mind , I am a bit of a gypsy at heart and love travelling and seeing new places but do love coming back to where I know best where things never change , people are decent , kids are safe and life is quiet and boring .

Things are changing fast and not for the better with the influx of visitors /immigrants who do not share our values or ever will

No one should be forced to do anything, but I get you. There should be more incentives for people to get out and see more and live more -- it tends to open up minds.

The same way a person who doesn't ever leave their house is considered sheltered by someone who does go out and about, someone who never leaves their town or state can be considered sheltered in the same way.

It's such a big world, and it's so beautiful and so many different people and cultures make it more beautiful; and we only have one life -- and yet many people choose to isolate themselves and never see more than their backyard -- in their only life.

I don't get it, but it's their choice. They should be incentivized in some way. Like, Greyhound, or trains, should offer super discounts for people who've never been anywhere. Or people should crowd-fund and then take letters from people who've never been anywhere but would love to, and finance it for them and their families.

I lived in Hawaii from 81 to 2001, all through k-12.

Some people prided them selves having never left the island(Maui and Oahu) and more having never left the state.

Small town mindset due to geographic isolation even within a state like Hawaii.

Crazy

originally posted by: Mahogany
No one should be forced to do anything, but I get you. There should be more incentives for people to get out and see more and live more -- it tends to open up minds.

The same way a person who doesn't ever leave their house is considered sheltered by someone who does go out and about, someone who never leaves their town or state can be considered sheltered in the same way.

It's such a big world, and it's so beautiful and so many different people and cultures make it more beautiful; and we only have one life -- and yet many people choose to isolate themselves and never see more than their backyard -- in their only life.

I don't get it, but it's their choice. They should be incentivized in some way. Like, Greyhound, or trains, should offer super discounts for people who've never been anywhere. Or people should crowd-fund and then take letters from people who've never been anywhere but would love to, and finance it for them and their families.

Force was a strong word, but you got my gist, incentivized. Often that is done in schools. It is wildly expensive for school trips especially anything outside of the country. What I’ve found with my own children (which have done these trips) Almost all the kids are kids that have parents that have already traveled with them. That leads me back to the mentality bit.

It’s a you don’t know what you don’t know. I’ll give a perfect example. To this day I don’t know a single person that has tried a Korean food called Bulgogi (grilled marinated beef) that didn’t like it. Actually most of them downright love it, some even say it’s the best thing they ever tasted, some even talk about it years after trying it. YET, if they were never exposed they would never know what a delicious meal that was. People in these small towns just aren’t exposed to new ideas.

Yes I agree with Cheifsmom, not all new things are good or safe. That’s why things don’t have to be always black and white. Is it possible to keep a rural feel of an area while having some progress? Often it’s not about progress as much as it is about control and fear. We have city folks that wanted to spray herbicide on private lands because they wanted to walk their dogs without weeds (yes that really was asked). That’s the opposite end of the spectrum. There is a middle ground. I think most people live somewhere in the middle, but like politics the sides on the left and right are so outspoken the middle gets drowned out. The voice of reason.

There is anything particular I would like to see, I was just pondering two places that had a dramatic improvement. People were in a huff and puff over both places when improvements started, and now they both look amazing and serve the community.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Wait until the 'goverment' forces communities to 'relocate' to cities because of agenda21/agenda30.
They want us packed together like sardines in tiny homes (that we off course won't own and be happy in ) in big cities.

Kinda like this:



The most 'hilarious' thing about this photo I found online was the capture: India's poor couldn't social distance due to poverty

a reply to: rounda

You want to make changes? That's what a town hall is for. And you get outvoted, that's how democracy works.

See that is one of the problems, that change is happening and things ARE not getting outvoted, and the natives aren’t too happy about that.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Sounds like elitist globalist BS to me.

How about leave people alone?

Maybe stop trying to impose your elitist "I know better than you" BS views on others?

I travel on business frequently and can't wait to return to my small village of 1/3 gringos, 1/3 Hispanic, 1/3 NA; a very varied cultural mix but still a loving, compassionate, close nit community. Fiercely independent and protective of the diverse "family" we have created. It's paradise....about the only problems are drunken domestic disputes and the tourists acting like tourists; arrogant, racists, entitled snobs.

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: JAGStorm

Sounds like elitist globalist BS to me.

How about leave people alone?

Maybe stop trying to impose your elitist "I know better than you" BS views on others?

No it’s actually quite the opposite. People think just because they live somewhere that they own the whole area and their views are all that matters.

Also what I said is a bit tongue in cheek, of course nobody should be forced, but I do think travel would open people to a different way of thinking. You know what traveling does. It shows you exactly what works and what doesn’t. It shows you wouldn’t this be nice to have, or isn’t this horrible?

originally posted by: olaru12
I travel on business frequently and can't wait to return to my small village of 1/3 gringos, 1/3 Hispanic, 1/3 NA; a very diverse cultural mix but still a loving, compassionate, close nit community. Fiercely independent and protective of the diverse "family" we have created. It's paradise....about the only problems are drunken domestic disputes and the tourists acting like tourists; arrogant, racists, entitled snobs.

That sound really nice. It seems that your area has a mix of influences from outside the area and that diversity really adds to the area. I like that. It sounds like your area didn’t lose its “soul” or hometown feel either. I think that is what a lot of people fear. What I would do for just a tiny bit of diversity in food! No joke the first time I got a taco here (not even in my town but the one next over) the taco was a crunchy shell with POT ROAST inside, greasy unflavored, unseasoned POT ROAST… A little piece of me died that day.

Very similar situation here, semi rural with families who’ve had the same place for generations.

We don’t have an issue with “outsiders” per se and even welcome them as neighbors. The problem is when they invariably get their kids ATVs and themselves horses, then proceed to think the entire area (private property, active farmland) is theirs free to use. Then it gets bad…

a reply to: JAGStorm

I've traveled all over the world, been all over country, lived in 11 different States.

A lot of it sucks. Same kind of corruption in most every town and city.

So let people decide what's best for their own communities.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Interesting OP. I moved from the big city to a very remote, small town. Population, 600. Yea, they don't do change. Then again, they don't do anything. I don't have much to do with them. They are incredibly boring. They all think the same things, say the same things everyday. Introduced myself to one old man last week and he said, "My name is John xxxx, my family has been here since 1880." My response was nice to meet you. We parted. Nothing more to say really.

There no value to making them travel. You can't tell them anything. Nothing gers through to them.

a reply to: JAGStorm

How in the world do you expect most small-town folks to travel? Take a look at income statistics, and you'll see that it's not an option, even if they want to do so. For the most part, the folks that can travel are transplants from cities that, quite frankly, got out for a reason. You can encourage it all you want; it's just not economically feasible for a vast majority of folks.

Not all 'small towns' have inbred. I'm sure the majority doesn't. There are laws for that sorta thing.

I'm from a small town. I have none of these feelings. To each their own but everyone thinks differently - so there's that.

a reply to: JAGStorm

First off, I live in a kinda small town

Move to a big city .
Problem solved .